Faculty, Washington School of Ballet, Upper Division Faculty
Christiane Cristo-Ezewoko, originally from Brasilia, Brazil, received her early training from ballet mistress Gisele Santoro and received complete advanced training at the Conservatoire de Danse de Paris with ballet étoile Atillio Labis. Mrs. Cristo-Ezewoko went on to study at Alvin Ailey Dance School and Dance Theater of Harlem, where she was invited to be part of the company.
While a soloist at Dance Theatre of Harlem, Mrs. Cristo-Ezewoko performed a wide variety of principal roles in works by Arthur Mitchell, Michael Smuin, George Balanchine, Jeffrey Holder, and Jerome Robbins – to name a few.
Subsequent to her dance career at Dance Theatre of Harlem, Mrs. Cristo-Ezewoko has provided extensive dance instruction to different age groups in the USA and Brazil, implementing motivational and interactive learning methods to increase student understanding of classical ballet techniques while explaining the links between ballet mastery and her own professional dance experience. Since moving to Virginia, she has taught ballet technique to students of all ages at BalletNova Center for Dance, and lead the first MOVE program at local public schools in Northern Virginia, based on Jacques D’Amboise’s National Dance Institute (NDI) program.